“Man...whatever,” Key responded before he shoved his brother away, and both men laughed.
“And if some high-society producer thinks she can go around me and get the answer she wants, she has another damn think coming. Discussion over,” he’d replied firmly, humor evaporating as the image of Sonia came back to his mind, his thoughts.
His jaws tightened.
“Somebody’s got his shorts in a knot over said high-society producer, I see,” had been his twin’s laughing retort.
To which he’d given him the anticipated single-finger salute answer. Looking at his brother was like looking at a mirror image of himself. So, when his brother lifted one brow and laughed, Key found himself hoping he didn’t look like a damn laughing hyena, as well.
Key had left the room, ignoring Nick’s taunting laugh.
Although they were identical twins, the two men played women very differently. Yet for all of their differences, Nick knew him, just as Key knew Nick, better than anyone else.
Key knew that Nick was aware that Sonia Brandon had gotten under his skin, but he didn’t give a damn. He would take pleasure in telling her no and had been waiting for nearly a week to do just that.
He stared down at her, rubbing the back of his neck.
That was before he’d discovered who and where...he and his brother were linked to. And with that, he wondered if Sonia Brandon knew about the big-ass skeletons in his closet, skeletons he was determined to keep exactly where they belonged, deep in the closet.
And if they didn’t know, Key was determined that the sexy producer and her staff would not find out. He knew if they did, they would do everything to exploit his family. His family had been through enough with the death of his mother and his father’s massive stroke soon after...life had been rocky. They were all just recovering from the loss, moving on and living, and he was damned if he’d allow anyone to come in and destroy that.
The fact that he himself had just learned about the Wildes, in particular his and Nick’s birthright, gave Key some confidence that he was the only one outside of his father who knew. But no mistake about it, it was a rocky confidence.
Because, although he dismissed the possibility that Sonia knew, he was going to cover all of his bases. He would be the one to figure out not only how to tell his brother, but if and when they would make contact with the Wildes. And if that happened, something so private damn well wouldn’t be broadcast before millions of people.
He was determined she or anyone in her crew would not discover his and Nick’s connection to the Wildes. To that end, he kept in mind there was an outside chance that particular egg was already out of the basket.
After wrestling with the decision, and not knowing for sure in the end, Key relied on one of his father’s favorite sayings: keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Not that she was exactly his enemy, but Key wasn’t trustful of the industry to which she belonged.
So if he had to make a deal with the devil...he glanced down at the beautiful woman who had been playing around in his mind from the moment they met. In all truth, from the moment he’d heard her husky, low, sexy voice, something about her had...intrigued him.
He would play her for a little longer. Until he found out exactly what, if anything, she knew about the skeletons in his family closet.
To that end, he knew he’d have to promise her something—himself.
“I’d like to make a proposition, Ms. Brandon,” he said, keeping his face neutral. He carefully examined her features, searching for any signs that would clue him in to what she was up to, let him know if she had inside knowledge of his family.
“And what would that be, Mr. Kealoha?” Sonia asked, her dark brown, clear gaze locked with his, her face devoid of any telling emotions, anything to alert him that she was hiding something.
The woman was good.
She definitely knew how to play her cards close, Key thought in admiration. She had a poker face that would give the reigning poker champ a run for his money. But her voice...the natural husky timbre in her voice sounded nearly breathless. It was her weakness. He knew she had no idea that her voice was so telling, as he’d witnessed.
She’d had his ranch workers eating out of the palm of her hand from the first moment she spoke to them. Just as he had, they’d sat up straight, their attention closely given to the small woman with the sexy voice.
Not that it had only been her voice that the men had reacted to.
Uncontrollably his glance fell to the crest of her breasts. Each inhalation and exhalation he watched with a focused, helpless stare, as though he was caught by some invisible traction and couldn’t look away.
“Ahem...I’m waiting,” she said, and coughed.
Damn.
Embarrassed that he’d been gawking at her tits like some overgrown adolescent, the crazy spell was broken and his glance met hers.
One delicate brow was lifted, her lips pursed as though she was pissed to the max. Which only served to make his cock even harder. She was so damn sexy, even mad she turned him on.
If possible, Key felt even more like the overgrown kid she reduced him to whenever he was in her presence.
He tightened his jaw and mentally ordered his cock to stand down and act like the grown man it was attached to.
“I would like to propose that you stay close to me. I’m extending an invitation for you to be my ‘right hand’ so to speak,” he began, lowering his voice, hoping to seduce her into feeling...comfortable around him.
If she was for him, she couldn’t be against him.
“Allow me to show you why I agreed to the show, initially. Allow me to demonstrate to you why I love this ranch.” He turned, extending his arm out to encompass the ranch. “Why I love this land.”
“And in exchange for that...?” she asked, allowing the sentence to dangle.
Key held his grin of satisfaction at bay. He could tell that he’d gotten her attention.
Good.
Her dark brown eyes lit with interest, and her small pink tongue came out to swipe across her full bottom lip. Just like her voice, the small action was a giveaway for her. One he was sure she hadn’t realized she did whenever she was...intrigued.
His gaze zeroed in on the sexy movement. Damn, just when he was getting control of the situation she got him.
His cock thumped against the zipper on his jeans in direct response to her nipples, which had, as though on cue and defying the confines of her bra, proudly pressed against the tank top she wore. As though reaching for him.
Before he realized his own intent, he took a step forward. Taking her hand in his, he brought it up, forcing her into closer contact with him.
“I give you me. I will be more involved in the show, make more of an appearance on the show,” he began, and held up a hand when he saw a light enter her beautiful dark eyes. “To a degree,” he cautioned. “I want the audience to come to love the land as we do. For them to understand why we feel the way we do, they have to believe it. You have to believe it. Do you believe, Ms. Brandon?” he asked, tilting her chin forward.
She slowly nodded, her gaze focused on him. He had her right where he wanted her to be.
“And you’ll sign on for a second season, Keanu?” she asked, her gaze direct.
The way she said his name again forced a reaction from his body, one he was struggling to keep in control.
Although he wasn’t ready to make that final concession, he knew he had to give her something. He nodded.
“I think it will make for a good show. And it’s all about the show, right, Ms. Brandon?” he asked, avoiding a direct answer. When her gaze narrowed, the slightest bit, he knew she’d caught the way he’d sidetracked answering.
He’d have to be careful around her.
Beauty, killer body and a sharp mind...it
all added up to trouble.
Chapter 4
What in the world did he want her to make of that?
Sonia gnawed on her bottom rip, her eyes fixed on Keanu, her gaze running over his tall lanky form as he leaned negligently against the railing.
He’d dropped her hand before it had even registered that he’d held it and turned, his face now in profile.
Even as he was making his demands, or odd requests, annoying her to the nth degree, Sonia couldn’t help admiring the man he was. She knew that he was only looking after his family, but each time he said some of the things he did to her, it set her teeth on edge. It wasn’t always what he said, but the way he said it.
She refused to admit it, but deep inside his obvious mistrust of her...hurt.
There was something in his eyes that told her the request went beyond a need for her to understand his love for the land. She had always known he loved his home, his birthright. She’d also known from day one that he simply tolerated her presence, as well as the crew on his land, for the sake of his mother’s foundation. So...what else was it? What had changed his mind? she wondered.
After approaching his brother about the possibility of a second season, she’d been surprised when he’d shot her down before the request had fully escaped her mouth.
“Well, as much as I’d like to oblige you, and the show, I’m going to have to say you stand as good as chance as a monkey’s balls in hell of that getting past my brother,” he’d said, and despite herself, she’d laughed.
“Uh, okay. Not really sure what that means,” she said, shrugging. “But can I ask why?” she’d said, going for broke. She knew that if she couldn’t at least get Nick to be on her team, there was slim to no chance of his more obstinate brother agreeing to the second season.
Although she didn’t know if they had a close relationship, Key and his brother were as identical as two people could be. Both were tall—at a guess she’d place them around six foot three or four. Both had the same startling blue eyes and slightly olive complexion, high cheekbones, aquiline nose and chiseled chin.
Both men even sported the same slight bump in the centers of their noses. She’d thought when she’d met Nick, that it had been acquired by way of sports; however, she’d wondered if that were the case after she’d met Keanu and seen that both men shared the exact same imperfection, in the exact same spot.
She knew they were what people referred to as mirror twins, after hearing one of the interns mention it, but to have injuries in the same spot seemed a bit odd to her.
Both had thick, jet-black hair, given to curling on the ends, if left too long. But, as much as they looked alike, Sonia knew the brothers apart. For her it had been no question who was who.
Keanu...did it for her. She stopped trying to pretend that he didn’t affect her, long ago. She simply had learned to deal with it, grateful that no one else knew how badly she had it for the sexy rancher.
Well, that was everyone except her assistant.
When Sonia had easily identified them, at first the staff had been surprised, wondering how she could when no one else could. She’d shrugged it off, inwardly embarrassed. She hoped her secret remained, that the reason she could differentiate between the two men was because she was so attracted to Keanu.
She’d caught her assistant observing her, keenly, as she’d laughed it off. But then she found out Patricia wasn’t the only one. Once Nick learned that she could tell him and his brother apart, after hearing her crew laughing about it, she’d caught him on more than one occasion watching her, as well, particularly if his brother was anywhere around.
Sonia felt unnerved by Nick’s stare. Not that it was overtly sexual; in fact, it was the opposite. She would have preferred the playboy flirting a lot better, she thought. That one she could handle. From the time she’d hit adolescence, she’d been dealing with men hitting on her. Besides, Sonia wondered about the over-the-top playboy role he played—how much was real and how much was simply for show.
He flirted and played with every woman under the age of eighty and seemed to have every one of them eating out of his hand. Yet for all of his flirting, she’d never seen Nick take any one of the many, many offers she’d seen thrown his way, usually from those women who visited the ranch hoping to meet the sexy Dynamic Duo.
But as much as she believed it was a role he played, he and his brother couldn’t have been more different. Whereas Nick flirted with the women, from the crew to those who hung outside the ranch gates hoping for a peep inside, Keanu avoided them all like the plague. Especially Sonia.
Keanu. She sighed. Sonia knew he was the reason for his brother’s reaction.
She felt like mentally screaming. Keanu turned her on, infuriated her and confused her all in equal amounts.
She covertly ran a gaze over him as he casually leaned back against the wrought-iron gate and crossed his big arms over his chest, staring out at the waning sunset. Although his face was away from hers, Sonia knew he was waiting for her reaction.
She got the feeling that her calm demeanor unnerved him, just as the standoffish, mistrustful vibe she’d gotten from him from day one did to her. But, again, she refused to let him know just how much he did affect her.
She wasn’t sure when it had happened as they’d been speaking, but during the course of the conversation they’d left the stable and were now standing near one of the small corrals, alone, the dying rays of the sun fading behind the majestic mountains beyond the sea.
She drew in a breath and kept her glance on him. Head to toe, he was the epitome of sexy cowboy. Confidence poured from the man, from the way he spoke to his men to the way he handled the ranch.
From the first moment of filming, Sonia had known they had something special on their hands. Both Keanu and Nick, along with their father, were as authentic as they could have hoped for.
Not in the least excited about the crew, neither were they intimidated; in fact, if anything, it had been the crew that had initially been intimidated by the men. Although Nick was definitely a playboy, charm and ooze pouring from every fine inch of him, he worked his land just as hard as his brother and their men. Usually when filming reality shows the effort to keep the “real” in reality had been a dicey point, and was one of the reasons she’d always found them distasteful. And cheesy. The cheesy part was the worst, for Sonia.
It went down one of two ways. Either the ones being filmed were hyperaware of the camera and were stiff and unnatural, or they were over-the-top wannabe TV stars. Neither one had work for Sonia, so she’d always stuck with scripted shows. But, when the filming of the ranch had started, surprisingly the cowboys who worked the ranch had, after initial hesitancy, continued on with the job at hand, completely ignoring the crew.
Although most of the ranch hands were seasoned cowboys, there were also younger men, and they too had gone on to work as though the cameras weren’t around. She knew the reason for that was the leadership. After meeting Nick, she’d realized that although he played the part of playboy to the hilt, behind the easy smile lay a completely different man, one who took his ranch seriously. After meeting Keanu, the complete puzzle had come together.
And when she’d first laid eyes on him...Sonia had known on that level of feminine intuition located deep, deep inside of every woman that she was in trouble.
“Who the hell is making all of this damn noise, scaring the crap out of my new horse?” The deep, booming baritone’s ringing question stopped everyone, Sonia included, dead in their tracks as they’d gathered inside the massive stable to go over the production schedule.
It had been the first day of filming and everyone, including Sonia, was hyped and excited. She had arrived before both the crew and Patricia to get a feel for the direction she wanted to go. It wasn’t that she wasn’t prepared; in fact, whenever she approached any job, she was usually over pre
pared. This time was different for her.
Doing a reality series was different—something that, although it was supposed to be reality, she knew, like everyone else who watched it, that the shows were as scripted as any given Hollywood sitcom. But she’d been determined that hers would be as unique as the Kealoha Ranch was itself. After spending time with the ranch hands, time the owners had allowed, without interference, she’d known her ideal of being natural and real was the best way to go.
And after meeting Keanu, she’d known her decision was sound. One look at the tall, breathtakingly handsome cowboy had literally taken her breath away.
Although she’d not managed, during the week she was at the Kealoha Ranch before the crew, to see Keanu, as he’d been away the first days of her arrival, she’d spoken with and met his brother and identical twin, Nick, and had already been impressed with his twin’s good looks and natural charm. Identical in every way on the outside, both men possessed the type of looks that she knew a camera would eat up.
When her director of photography had openly stared at Keanu, her camera dangling at her side, whispering “hot damn,” she’d turned to face the man attached to the booming voice.
And from that moment on, she’d been hooked.
Her glance fell to him now as he silently stood next to her.
She couldn’t really tell anyone the whys of it. Yes, he was one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever laid eyes on, but it was more than that.
Normally he wore the typical cowboy hat worn by most on the cowboys, low on his head, covering his hair. But of course, on Keanu it was anything but typical. The way the hat sat low, obscuring most of his face, with only the lower half showing sent goose bumps over her flesh when she’d catch him eyeballing her whenever he was near.
When she’d once seen him take it off and wipe a handkerchief across his forehead, cleaning off the sweat, she had felt her heart nearly pound out of her chest.
After removing the hat, his mop of shiny black strands were mussed over his head, looking as though he had just gotten out of bed. Immediately the image came to mind of a woman’s hands being the one that caused the muss.
To Have a Wilde (Wilde in Wyoming) Page 4